Tips for Initiating a Customer Rewards Program

Customer loyalty or rewards programs are excellent methods for retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. People like knowing that they get more than a product in return for making a purchase from a business. Rewards in terms of travel benefits or discounts are highly attractive to modern consumers. So, if you want to take your business to the next stage, you can do it better with a loyalty program.

Here are several tips that will help your small or medium sized business initiate a customer rewards program:

Have a High-Tech Point of Sales System

The success of your rewards program will depend largely on the POS systems your business currently has. Rewards are earned and cashed in at the point of sales. It’s also at this point that customers are attracted to something like a loyalty program. So, if your POS is outdated, you will have little luck executing a loyalty program. So, invest considerable amounts of resources to upgrade and modernize your POS.

Offer Clear and Tangible Benefits

The benefits you offer should be straightforward, clear, attainable and of use. Don’t offer complicated points systems. The system you should develop should be simple in practicality. For example, “gain 5 points and get a free tube of toothpaste” is a clear and tangible benefit. On the other hand, “gain 5 points to gain 10 more points faster to qualify for a free tube of toothpaste” makes little sense and shows no immediate rewards. Look at the types of benefits major credit cards offer. Fashion your program to be something like that.

Issue a Card

You can issue a loyalty card like a credit card to gain recognition for your rewards program. It can also make processing requests and hand out rewards easy. Your customers will also appreciate your program more if you legitimize it with something like an official card.

Keep in Touch with Participants

Do not forget to keep in touch with participants in the program. When people sign up for the program, get their email address and phone number. Then you can use these to initiate email and SMS campaigns. You can let participants know of special offers to keep them coming back. Don’t forget to bombard participants with emails and texts. Keep things to a minimum if you don’t want people to unsubscribe in droves.

Offer Special Holiday Discounts to Participants

When the holidays come around, you will have to create special holiday discounts for participants of the loyalty program. Remember that the holidays are a particularly competitive season, especially for retailers. Your business will have to fight for even the most loyal customers. Your customers will have many choices, so the best way to keep them coming to your store to do the holiday shopping is to add the cherry to the cake. Make loyalty program participants feel special with special discounts and you will definitely drive up sales.

Loyalty programs offer many benefits, and they are relatively easy to implement. However, don’t forget that you do need to aggressively push a loyalty program just like any other advertising attempt. Get feedback from participants to make the program better over time.